


Countdown

by fallpoutboy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Tony Stark, Lots and lots of pain, Pain, Romance, Some Irondad, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, i dont know when to stop, more like tony needs some food water and oxygen amirite guys, platonic nebulatony, the trailer broke me so hear i am, was gonna be a full on pepperony story but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-10
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-09-15 09:50:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16931016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallpoutboy/pseuds/fallpoutboy
Summary: It's a countdown to the eventual ending he's always had coming for him, but Tony can only ever think of Pepper in the end. Always.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know next to nothing about astronomy and spaceships but I do know that the Milky Way isn't just made up of our solar system but for this fics sake, please pretend it is. This is the first Tony fanfic I've ever written, the most I've written in a while and I'm extremely anxious about how it will be perceived. I'm proud of it anyways and won't keep you any longer from it.

**Day 1**

It hits him, while Nebula was currently starting the engine to the Benatar, that Tony realizes the extent of what just transpired. His eyes fill with tears once more and he takes a heavy seat on the co-pilot's seat across from Nebula. Peter died in his arms and he spent an hour silently crying in his ash-covered hand until Nebula heaved him up with a sullen “Come on” and lead him in the direction of the Guardians spaceship.

 _Did Rhodey survive? Happy? Pepper… oh god… not Pepper_. They were planning a wedding, they were planning a future together, they… were planning to have a kid. _Had it really only been that morning when I told her about Morgan?_ The endless thoughts of hopelessness and despair swirl around him as the Benatar rises off the ground and into the Titan sky. A jolt from the ship makes the tear in his eye fall down and Tony just buries his head in the crook of his shoulder and sobs.

**Day 2**

“Stark? Stark, wake up.”

Tony doesn’t stir all at once when he wakes, because he wakes up in the unfamiliar environment and not in his bed with Pepper where this all just a horrible nightmare, but it’s real. He groggily raise his head and blinks a few times. Getting up slowly to not disturb the nanobytes that sealed the stab wound in his stomach, he walked to where Nebula was waiting.

“There’s Terran compatible food here, but not enough for sustained travel,” Nebula says and nods to the small refrigerator in the corner. Tony doesn’t make a move towards it so Nebula continues.

“This ship got damaged from the fight from Thanos and can’t make any jumps to Earth but I set it on the course to Earth. Estimated arrival time is 15 days.”

That rises Tony out of his stupor immediately. “15 days?! That’s ridiculous, that can’t be right,” Tony hoarsely says, his voice itchy and dry.

Nebula leads him to the captain's chair and the control panel adjacent to it. The panel’s screen displayed the information:

**Location: Unknown territory, Theta galaxy**

**Destination: Terra, Milky Way galaxy**

**ETA: 14 days, 9 hours**

**Urgent: Hyperdrive, exterior, interior, communication repairs recommended**

**Urgent: Spacepod replacement recommended**

**Play “Brandy You’re a Fine Girl”?**

_So Quill was a old school music lover?_ , Tony first thought and then actually processed what he read. Fifteen days until he found out the fate of everyone he cared about.

“We can fix this right? This isn’t set in stone”, Tony said and looked Nebula in the eyes. “I can work on interior and communications, and maybe the hyperdrive once I see the specs for it.”

Nebula eyed him warily, and said “If you say so, I can do exterior repairs with a space suit.”

Tony then took to the small refrigerator in the corner and eyed the content within. Taking out a bowl which contained what resembled a meat and two sides, he dug in.

**Day 5**

After reality set it in, desperation saw its way to the forefront. Tony and Nebula worked tirelessly to fixed the parts of the ship that needed it but they ran into several speed bumps along the way.

First, they were still in deep space, because the Benatar’s third engine sustained damage in the Titan fight, they weren’t going at an optimal speed. The ship’s hyperdrive wasn’t going to work without all three functional engines.

Second, once Tony got the communications function to work, the few nearby planets and ships didn’t find their cause worthy enough to help them. Thanos’s snap left everyone inconvenienced and some didn’t even bother responding to what Tony and Nebula had to say.

 _Everyone lost someone they loved_ , Tony concluded miserably whilst trying to get through to a dwarf planet. _At least they can grieve without having this heavy feeling of guilt weighing down on them._

Giving up on the communications radio for now, he made his way over to the table to eat his daily (and last) half-ration. Nebula was sitting there, eyes following him while eating her ration.

Tony could feel her eyes on him while he ate and while he knew from his old butler Jarvis that it wasn’t proper table etiquette (he practically drilled it into him), he knew that what’s conventional may have been thrown out the window. Nebula wasn’t much of a conversationalist, only talking when necessary to help him make the repairs and to switch nightly watch with him. Sneaking a peek at her after drinking some water, he notices she winces slightly and shifts her metal arm off the table. It dawns on Tony that her arm was damaged in the fight with Thanos and she hasn’t found the time to fix it.

Tony’s can’t help but ask, “Do you need help with fixing your arm?”

Her head snaps up at the sudden attention and she quickly declines.

“Well, if you’re sure,” Tony absolves. “I did build my suit myself and a couple others like it.”

_Like the Iron Spider suit Peter died in, his conscious reminds him and Tony puts his hands over his face. Like the War Machine armor Rhodey got paralyzed in, like the Rescue suit Pepper will never see-_

“Fine, it can’t get any worse,” Nebula unexpectedly abates, breaking his taunting thoughts.

Thankful for the reprieve that Tony got from his wandering mind, he hastily makes around to grab the necessary tools to fix her and sits in proximity to her.

Minutes pass by as Tony surveys the interior wires, circuits and bolts of her arm. It’s not a completely lost cause but her arm was in dire need of an upgrade and Tony made a mental note to offer her with one if they make it back home.

“If you don’t mind me by asking,” Tony cautiously prefaces, “how did you get this arm anyway?”

Nebula, purses her lips, from the unexpected question and from not wanting to reveal any information about herself.

“This arm I got as a reward from the Ravager pirates four years ago,” Nebula reluctantly says. “The original arm was a punishment in the form of an enhancement from Thanos, many years ago.”

Her statement strikes a sudden cord in Tony and he pauses his tinkering. “Thanos?”

“He kidnapped me as a child and raised me to be an assassin along with Gamora,” Nebula relays, “He pit us against each other and whenever Gamora won, he had one of my body parts replaced with a supposedly ‘better’ version.”

His mind goes back to the fight on Titan when Nebula confronted Thanos with an old, hostile familiarity and her trembling lips when it was revealed Thanos killed Gamora. Faint warning signs fire off in the back of his head, telling Tony that Nebula could still be in league with Thanos and could be planning to kill him, or worse, take him to Thanos to finish the job. But Tony dismisses those thoughts easily, reasoning that if Nebula wanted to kill him she would’ve done it already and she didn’t seem to be on the best of terms with her adopted father.

“I’m sorry for your loss”, Tony says after a moment, it’s all he can offer.

“Don’t be,” Nebula scoffs. “Gamora shouldn’t have been so soft as to actually give up the location of the Soul Stone to save my life.”

“Well at least she had a good reason to give it up,” Tony quickly fires back. “I’d take sisterly love over a vague explanation from a stranger anytime.”

Nebula opens her mouth to respond then thinks against it. Their similarities in story are being quickly realized on Tony, both of their lives having been chosen over the safety of half the universe, both of them rely (or relied, in Tony’s case) on forced-upon machinery, and both had shameful pasts that they’re trying to rectify. One raised to be a weapon, one made and profited off of weapons, Tony bitterly thinks and goes back to fixing her arm.

“I’m sorry for your loss too,” Nebula swiftly says. “A stranger and a son, then.”

Stephen Strange, a stranger turned ally and Peter.... the kid he considered a son.

Tony’s eyes start to sting but he corrects her. “He wasn’t mine… but he may as well have been.”

Everyday, the chances of getting home seem slimmer but Tony knows that he’d have to sit down with May Parker and explain what happened. How Peter ignored his demand of going back to with his naive reasoning and how he helped in the best possible way, but it wasn’t enough. It was probably best to leave out the fact that his enhanced senses prolonged his death and how he pleaded with him about not wanting to go. They sit in silence while Tony mends her arm and smoothly puts the outer casing back on.

“There. I worked out most of kinks but you should look into an upgrade when we get to Earth,” Tony offers. “ Maybe I can put in a word for you at Wakanda, their vibranium tech is especially advanced.”

Nebula dismisses the idea as she gets up from the table. “Thanks, but what I have now is good enough.”

Tony stays and stares at her retreating form and get the eerie feeling about how it must have been like for Rhodey and Pepper when Tony was dying of palladium poisoning, trying to help their intentionally ignorant and obviously suffering friend.

**Day 7**

He’s no stranger to hunger and starvation. In Afghanistan, Tony had Yinsen there to cook the meager meals but sometimes the Ten Rings terrorists withheld food to give them an extra incentive to build the Jericho missile. A few years later, Tony walked around in below-zero temperatures in rural Tennessee, eight hours after he ate his gluten-free waffles for breakfast, and felt the same hunger pains from his kidnapping.

Only this time, they had run out of food and had no way of getting more. They were still in deep space, no jumps made because of a broken hyperdrive, and the communications radio had gone dead. He had been able to amplify the range but nobody responded. A whole galaxy, struggling to figure life out again after a mass decimation.

 _Almost three days without any food, that’s a new record_ , Tony muses dryly and gazes in front of the ship’s window into a ocean of stars.

He’s wrapped in one of Quill’s long sleeved sweatshirt, seeing as the oxygen depletion made the ship colder and drinks the last of the water. Glancing back to see Nebula sitting at the table staring in nothing, he’s reminded of their conversation regarding the rations. Her cybernetic upgrades will allow her to survive a little longer without any sustenance, she informs him when he offered her the last of the water. Tony’s mind immediately conjures the image of her pacing the ship with his dead body just lying there and he grimaces. Of all the ways he’d thought he would go, or could’ve gone (New York, Sokovia, Siberia, Titan one fucking week ago), dying from starvation and dehydration in a spaceship adrift in the cosmos was the most unexpected one. And, the most lonely one of all.

**Day 10**

  
The sound of the captain’s chair control panel wakes Tony up from his nightmare of everyone he loves blaming him for the Snap and then dying from it. He would’ve cried if he had any tears left from dehydration and his stomach feels cramped up now instead of the sharp pain he fell asleep with, but he slowly lumbers over to see what the Benatar has to say.

**Location: Unknown territory, Outer Milky Way galaxy**

**Destination: Terra, Milky Way galaxy**

**ETA: 4 days, 9 hours**

**Urgent: Hyperdrive and interior repairs recommended**

**Urgent: Spacepod replacement recommended**

**Play “Brandy You’re a Fine Girl”?**

Tony reads and rereads the information, and looks out into the supposed familiar solar system. It hits him then, while his attempts to spot out Earth prove futile that there’s a chance to get a message back home.

He scrambles to sit up and taps the nanotech housing unit in his chest. “Come on,” he mutters deliriously and then feels the nanobytes come to life. A helmet, he decides, and after a little struggle, he wills the suit’s helmet from the nanobytes into reality. Its damaged but functional for what he needs to do. The realization that he’s now in the same solar system as Pepper sets him in motion, remember that he outfitted the helmet with a broadcasting transmitter, which when synced to the Benatar’s communication’s radio, it might be enough to get it to the Avengers Compound on Earth. The message would take it’s time to get there and it would be an undetermined amount of time until they found him, but he owed it to his fiance to leave a proper goodbye. He had given up hope of being rescued the day the food ran out and now all that’s left is complete resignation and feelings of failure, as Iron Man, as a mentor and as a partner.

Verifying the link between his helmet and the radio, he sits down and leans forward, to tap the holographic scan near the helmets temple and begins, what’s likely the last words he’ll ever say.

“This thing on? Hey Miss Potts. If you find this recording, don’t feel bad about this,” Tony starts, wanting to reassure a knowingly-worried Pepper. “Part of the journey is the end.”

The journey, which started the day he introduced the military to the Jericho missile, and should’ve ended the day he threw the last arc reactor into the ocean.

“Just for the record, being adrift in space with zero promise of rescue is more fun than it sounds. Food and water ran out… four days ago.” Tony struggles to remember but continues. “Oxygen will run out tomorrow morning… that’d be it.”

He knows Pepper wouldn’t want to hear how defeated he is, but he knows it has to be said. She’d still want every detail, no matter how excruciating, because Pepper always had faith in him to find a way through. Still wanting to express his love for her, he continues.

“When I drift off, I will dream about you. It’s always you.” His voice cracks on that last note, reminded of all the times she was the last thought running through his head. When he got hit with his own weapon in Afghanistan and her name was the last thought in his mind, when he was being waterboarded by the Ten Rings as water shocked his electromagnetic chest, when he fell into unconsciousness when Stane was killed and the arc reactor was barely going, Pepper’s picture being the last thing to leave his HUD when he went into space and saw the nuke into the Chitauri. It was always her.

A short and brutally honest message is all Tony can manage right now and he reaches over to end it. Stroking the mask, imagining it were Pepper’s cheek, like how he used to do in those quiet mornings in bed. Closing his eyes, he relished in the memory of his last day with her. Waking up from his dream of Morgan, he slowly turned in her arms and just watched her. He smiled then, thinking of the upcoming wedding and the possibility of making that dream a reality. She woke up then and saw him staring at her, slightly confused because she’s usually the first to wake up and it’s as if he’s expecting her.

“Morning… are you ok? Did you have a nightmare?”

“I’m fine, no nightmares,” Tony’s smile grew. “I just love you a lot this morning.”

Pepper blushed slightly and he was amazed that he could still make her do that, after all this time.

As Tony stopped breathing through his nose and just let his mouth take the shallow breaths, various scenes of his life flash through his mind. Tony flying the MARK II Armor out around Malibu, Howard sending him off to boarding school at ten years old, Tony and Pepper’s surprise engagement at the press conference meant for Peter, Yinsen using his dying breath to tell him not to waste his life, meeting and subsequently latching onto Rhodey at MIT, his mother kissing his cheek as she and Howard depart for their awaiting death, the Clean Slate Protocol happening above his and Pepper’s head as they hug, creating the AI JARVIS after a nonstop 32 hour high following Edwin Jarvis’ funeral, Steve’s shield mercilessly slammed down onto his chest, his dance with Pepper at the Firefighter’s Family Fund and their awkward almost first kiss to their first passionate one on the rooftop after the Expo.

 _I thought when your life flashed before your eyes, it would be from start to finish… But no matter the order, Pepper will always be there. Always…._ , his last coherent thought flits off in his mind as he quietly, and peacefully, goes into oblivion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pepper gets the message and goes into sicko mode.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally posting this three months after the first chapter! Better late than never. HUD stands for Heads up Display. Enjoy!

#  **Day 10**

* * *

 

Even in the event of the apocalypse, Pepper Potts remained as efficient and level-headed as ever. The previous world wide disasters from New York and Sokovia felt like child’s play, in comparison to what had happened 10 days ago. _At least with I had Tony by my side the last times,_ Pepper tenderly thought and immediately winced. _Don’t think about Tony now,_ she reminded herself and kept up the brisk walk to her where her car was parked in the staff building of the Avengers .

The sun was about to set and as she walked the empty halls, she couldn’t help but remember the hustle and bustle of how it used to be two weeks ago when she was last here and compare it to now: the people who survived and bothered coming to work, not making eye contact and just going through the motions.

Putting on a brave face for the rest of the world was hard because while she was the face of the largest tech conglomerate in the world and a spokesperson for the Avengers on behalf of Stark Industries, she was a grieving fiance who just wanted answers. When her phone call with Tony was cut off as he left the atmosphere in the goddamned ship, she was at a loss. Then after sitting with the realization that he may never return and crying for an hour, she made several phone calls.

Her first call was to the NYPD and officially reported Anthony Stark as missing. At that point, Pepper refused to even entertain the notion that he died.

The second call she made was to May Parker, conferring with her about Peter’s whereabouts and assured her that Tony will keep him save (he had sworn to do so when confronted by May about Spider-Man one year ago), even going so far as to say that Tony wouldn’t hesitate to give his life for Peter’s (as much it hurt to say it). They shed some tears over the phone and afterwards Pepper made a mental note to invite May over for brunch soon.

Her third call was to Rhodey, who had been holding down the fort at Avengers Compound. It was too brief for her liking seeing as how they just got to discussing Tony and what really just happened, he had to end the call due to Secretary Ross was calling him, most likely to grill him about what happened.

The fourth, and most dreaded, phone call was to the Stark Industries Board of Directors. A joint video call to the 10 investors, who were normally nice enough, but could have very well taken their investment out of the company if the “Stark” in Stark Industries wasn’t going to be around anymore. Using every ounce of patience she had left, Pepper took her time to carefully explain the situation and relayed her last conversation with Tony. When asked about the possibility of Tony coming back, she didn’t hesitate to make her unwavering faith in Tony known. Of course they had about a million more questions after that and two hours later, Pepper managed to successfully convince them that Tony was going to be back and the replacement head of R&D was up to fill his shoes in the meanwhile. When it was finally over and Pepper realized that none of them had asked if she were okay, she was too exhausted from the day’s events to even care.

That exhaustion has stayed with her since that day and right now, she would like to go home and sleep, to wrap herself so deep into their bed and pretend he’s there with her. She’s so wrapped up in her thoughts that she doesn’t even notice the F.R.I.D.A.Y. alert ringing from her StarkWatch.

She brought her wrist up to her face and asks, “What is it F.R.I.D.A.Y?”

“Ms. Potts, an incoming transmission is being picked up from outer space. Message origin likely to have come from Boss, ma’am.”

Pepper gasps and instantly fresh tears form up in her eyes. “Play it now.”

The small holographic screen expands from the watch screen and there lies Tony, scruffy and skinnier than he was before, but alive and Pepper feels a familiar and overwhelming wave of relief flow through her as a tear rolls down her cheek.

As soon as the minute long message end, Pepper takes a moment to process what Tony just sent her and is immediately set in motion.

“How long did that message take to get here?” Pepper asks F.R.I.D.A.Y as she sprints towards to the private living quarters of Avengers Compound.

“Approximately five hours since the recording was sent, ma’am.”

That fact makes Pepper’s heart drop into her stomach and she thinks about how Tony is now five hours closer to suffocating in space.

“Forward this message to all Avengers present and add a memo to meet me in the conference room in three minutes.”

The group had gathered after what felt like a millennia to Pepper, and just momentarily stood there, letting Tony’s message sink in.

“He sent that five hours ago,” Pepper started, addressing them all. “There isn’t any time to waste. We need to prep the Quinjet and leave as soon as possible.”

“ The estimated time of rescue via Quinjet is three days, ma’am”, F.R.I.D.A.Y. announced from her wristwatch and Bruce shook his head.

“The Quinjet isn’t built with a hyperdrive, he’d be gone by three days ,” Bruce grimly stated and Pepper's stomach churns at the thought.

“The Bifrost is the best option then,” Thor suddenly declares and looks straight at Pepper. “It is instantaneous and painless, and you can accompany me.”

She knows about Thor’s preferred way of travelling, having seen the video of his sudden arrival in the Battle of Wakanda. While her opinion on each member of the Avengers (besides Rhodey) has varied and changed over the years, she’s immeasurably grateful that at least one of them is gracious enough to help her so personally.

“So I can give you his coordinates and we can leave soon?” Pepper inquires and Thor nods.

“Miss Potts, might I suggest wearing the MK 1 Rescue exoskeleton suit for your excursion?” F.R.I.D.A.Y. suggests and Pepper is momentarily confused. “Boss built it for you as a wedding gift and it’s to be used only in times of emergency. There will be a lack of oxygen where you’re going and you’ll need it.”

 _God, of course he did,_ Pepper thinks and recalls the few times she would ponder if he would ever make a suit for her throughout the years.

“Show me the suit, Fri.”’

Five minutes later, Pepper shakily walks onto the Compound’s lawn in her armor. It’s lighter and better adapted for her, physically wise, than the MK 42 was all those years ago. She could only briefly admire how far his tech had come when she felt the nanobots spread all over but it only fueled her more to tell him how she felt in person.

Thor was there waiting, now wearing his full battle armor and holding his new weapon. He regards her with a slight smile and gestures a little to her suit.

“Why the violet color and not his signature red?” Thor asks and Pepper is just as mystified as he is.

“You can ask him why when we get him back here,” Pepper only says and puts her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just go get him.”

Without another word, Thor raises his axe to the sky and Pepper experiences what she can only describe as reaching nirvana and being on a suddenly launched rocket to Mars all at once. She feels herself being propelled up and slingshot away from this dimension and can only see bright colors (and a few no human had ever seen before) and it's promptly over before it really even began.

The spaceship shakes when they touch down on it and Pepper takes in her new setting. Had this been a different situation, she would have the time and proper attitude to regard the fact that she was actually in space, facing a green star-filled nebulae but this wasn’t the time for stargazing.

There he is, her former boss, best friend, fiance, confidant, and savior of Earth propped up against the ships chair, looking just as disheveled and dying as he was in his holographic message.

“Oh Tony,” Pepper cries and hurries over to his sleeping form. “Tony, wake up, please wake up. We’re gonna get you out of here.”

His chest isn’t rising and falling with breath but her HUD shows that he has a weak pulse and Pepper takes that as the gospel truth. Vaguely aware of Thor talking behind her, she scoops Tony up in her arms and turns around to leave. With Thor now is a blue skinned alien woman but Pepper is too preoccupied with Tony to even care if she is a threat or not.

The trip back wasn’t as bad and Pepper runs with his body to the medbay when she feels her feet back on the ground of the Compound.

She softly lays him down on the hospital bed and wills the suits helmet to detract. Looking at him with her own two eyes has never felt so damn good, better than seeing him on the tarmac after Afghanistan and in Miami after Killian kidnapped her combined. Overcome with that same emotion, her eyes swam with tears and she ran her hand through his hair, knowing the sensation of it is soothing for him. Bruce and Jim are moving behind her, setting up an IV tube in Tony’s forearm and getting him undressed but they grant her moment with Tony and Pepper doesn’t move from his side until Bruce has to put the oxygen tubing reel up his nose.

“Detract the suit, Friday,” Pepper murmurs and again feels the crawl of the nanobots over her skin, retracting back into the housing unit on her chest. “How is he, Bruce?”

Bruce chewed on his bottom lip, hesitating to answer. “It’s a miracle his heart was still beating. If you and Thor didn’t take the Bifrost and we took up more time deciding how to get there, his heart would’ve gave out due to lack of oxygen. He is extremely malnourished and dehydrated but the IV is feeding him key nutrients now. He won’t be waking up for another day and half, at most.”

Pepper sighed in relief, expecting a worse diagnosis and nodded. “Thank you so much Bruce. I might as well get in touch with Helen-”

“Already got in touch with Dr. Cho and she said she’ll be ready to talk to Tony when he wakes up. As for actually being here, it will take some time but she promised when everything finally settles in Seoul, she’ll get here,” Bruce reassured her with a slight smile.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s been two days and he’s still asleep? God, his body really took a beating huh?”

 _Rhodey? I guess drifting off meant dreaming about him too,_ Tony thinks, trying to remember when exactly Rhodey has ever said that.

“His condition is stable now and normally I’d be more worried but I’m just relived he’s still here with us and on the mend,” Pepper sighs. “His body needs the extra rest.”

 _Ok either Heaven exists and I somehow made it with Pepper and Rhodey or I finally made it home._ Tony notices the lack of the noise the Benatar’s engine made and the cotton sheets he’s lying it. His hands twitch on his stomach and subtly feels the polyester blend of the patient gown he’s wearing.

“I bet this is the most rest Tones has gotten in a while,” Rhodey guesses and Tony slightly smiles and prepares to speak.

“You got that right, Platypus,” Tony groans out and opens his eyes to see Pepper and Rhodey startle and leap out their seats with a slight yelp.

Tony starts to speak again but Pepper grabs the drink from his bedside table and raises the straw to his lips. “Don’t talk, drink. The IV can only do so much for you.”

He doesn’t realize how parched he is until he drinks the much appreciated water down his throat, holding Pepper’s gaze the entire time. She removes the straw after he downs half the bottle and rains kisses all over his face. Tony pats his shaking fiance on the back and his eyes well up. He never expected to live and see her again, to tell her all things he hasn’t said, to experience married life or just to simply breathe.

“So I take it you got my message?” Tony asks and Pepper lets out a watery laugh and pulls back to look at him.

“Yes, we all did Tony,” Pepper eyes seek his out but he doesn’t shrink under her survey. “What happened up there?”

“A lot. I’m guessing a lot happened down here too,” Tony answers but winces with the memory of the fight.

Pepper senses his discomfort and stops pressing for details. “Peter?”

Tony glances down and says, “Gone. After the fight. In my arms…. What about here?”

“Vision, obviously, but Bruce is examining his body to see if anything remains,” Rhodey speaks up. “Happy, King T’Challa, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Sam, Maximoff, Barnes, and most of the world’s leaders.”

Tony’s heart sinks down low when he hears about Happy and Nick and even though they were his teammates for a short time, the deaths of T’Challa and Sam makes him shake his head.

“Ok. Who survived?”

This time Pepper talks. “Rogers, Natasha, Barton. Thor, Sharon Carter and Scott Lang have made a reemergence and are all here at the Compound. There’s a talking raccoon who keeps to himself when he’s not with Thor or Nebula. Two days ago, your message reached us and Thor and I rescued you using the Bifrost when we got your coordinates”

The irony of the original six Avengers still being alive isn’t lost on Tony, but he squeezes Pepper’s hand in his with the knowledge that she saved him. _As always…._

“How is Nebula?” he asks, thinking about her slowly starving with him too.

“She’s fine, only needed to eat a full meal and rest for a few hours,” Rhodey replied and he’s relieved that his new friend is okay.

“Well. We need to regroup and figure out our next move,” Tony says and tries to rise from the bed but Pepper pushes him back down by his shoulders and hands him the water cup.

“Yes we do need to plan the next move, but you, Mr. Stark, are going to recover for the rest of the day. I’ll let the others know you’re awake and they can visit you here, if you like, but you have to build up your strength first.”

 _Having you both here makes me strong,_ he thinks but Tony only nods, relaxing back into the bed. Tony finishes drinking the water and grabs Pepper’s hand, raising it to his lips and kisses the back of it.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Hard times were coming to them, and Tony knows he’s willing to break that promise again to fix everything and bring justice to the universe. But for now, with Pepper by his side and their team reunited, he’ll stay and try to live a little while longer.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well that's all for now folks. leave kudos, comment if you want, watch dark phoenix on june 7th 😘😘


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